The present invention relates generally to dental cabinets and more specifically to a free standing cabinet which facilitates the installation of utility service lines into and through the cabinet.
Various cabinet arrangements are used in dental offices. Some of this cabinetry contains various dental hand pieces (pneumatic or electric), syringes, pulp testers and like instrumentation used by the dentist in performing operations within the patient's oral cavity. Other cabinetry may contain other apparatus, such as Bunsen burners, amalgam mixing machines, vacuum apparatus, and the like used by the dentist in performing services associated with the practice of dentistry. Many of these dental apparatus and instruments require some sort of utility supply, either electricity, hot or cold water, gas, or vacuum lines.
Heretofore, the connection of the various utility service lines presented somewhat of a problem. For example, the main utility service line were usually strung across the back of the cabinet and then branch lines were extended into the cabinet through openings at the cabinet rear. In cases, where the cabinetry was free standing, this arrangement required a separate false back or other decorative paneling to be built around the rear of the cabinet to conceal the various utility lines. In cases where the cabinet stood adjacent the wall surface, the usual practice was to run the main utility service lines between the wall and the back of the cabinet and to provide end panels for closing the space between the cabinet and the wall. The construction of dental cabinets of the prior art also made it difficult to provide the necessary internal space needed to make the appropriate utility service connections within the cabinetry. This is a further reason why the practice heretofore has been to run the main utility service lines across the back of the cabinet and to have branch connections extending through the rear wall of the cabinet.
The present invention, however, provides a dental cabinet arrangement which is easily assembled and which not only provides ample internal space for accommodating all required utility service lines, but also provides ready access to these utility lines for making appropriate connections or repairs when necessary. As used herein utility service lines is meant to include waste disposal lines as well as utility supply lines.